


Dramatic Irony

by leafiest_groves



Series: ☆ 𝓟𝓙𝓞/𝓗𝓞𝓞 𝓛𝓮𝓼𝓫𝓲𝓪𝓷𝓼 ☆ [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, CONGRATS ON FINISHING THE FIC OLD SPORT, F/F, Fluff, Genderbending, I Ship It, Love at First Sight, Magic-Users, Memory Loss, Self-Worth Issues, Temporary Amnesia, The Author Regrets Nothing, Useless Lesbians, mostly canon compliantt, pure fluff, slight canon divergence on some things tho, this one's for you, wholesome shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:21:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27278665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leafiest_groves/pseuds/leafiest_groves
Summary: “…she had always been enchanted by magic, beautiful magic…”Jacynthe fell in love one night. This is how.
Relationships: Female Percy Jackson/Female Jason Grace
Series: ☆ 𝓟𝓙𝓞/𝓗𝓞𝓞 𝓛𝓮𝓼𝓫𝓲𝓪𝓷𝓼 ☆ [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1903603
Comments: 5
Kudos: 15





	Dramatic Irony

**Author's Note:**

  * For [parker_kingofbees](https://archiveofourown.org/users/parker_kingofbees/gifts).



_You mustn't stray too close to the ocean. It isn't for you to know. In the next lifetime perhaps, you will know it well, but not in this one._

Every lungful of ocean air that the girl on the beach took in seemed to invigorate her.

Despite her closeness to the shore, she had never set foot in the ocean. It had always dangled ever-so-tantalisingly out of reach. It was a matter of immense fascination for her, this shifting, shimmering entity, that was so near and yet so far.

Even today she sat, sprawled out over the empty, rocky beach, staring up at the sky above her. The sky that had been her domain since birth. The clouds rolled over each other haplessly, and she remembered how it felt to soar among them, to tumble through the mist and the building rain.

Sitting up, she held her hands in front of her, palms raised upward. Slowly but surely, they began sparking at the tips, until finally, a crackling, unstable ball of energy floated inches above her upturned palms. She blew on it gently, watching in silence as it drifted further and further before dissipating into the air.

Disheartened, she slumped back onto the ground.

_Careful. You must always be careful, Jacynthe. The moment your vigilance fades, you could cause a massacre._

What an ironic name. 

_Jacynthe._

Her stepmother had titled her as such on the day of her birth. Perhaps she should have known who she should have tried to be, if she had any hope of succeeding in her family’s eyes.

_Flower in heaven. A blossom heralded by angels. Exalted above all others._

Jacynthe wasn’t the beauty she wanted to be. It wasn’t looks she was thinking of.

Physically, the girl could easily be argued for as a beauty. Jacynthe on the other hand, felt that her ugliness came from the birthright she was bestowed with. The crackling energy in her palms, the rush of soaring over miles of wilderness, the thrill of chasing prey and feeling its bones crunch in her jaws, the rush of tasting blood.

All of it, she saw it as disgusting. Inhumane.

Jacynthe had always been enchanted by magic, beautiful magic. Not the kind that killed millions in seconds, the kind of magic she saw in their cohorts everyday. Not the kind she was burdened to make responsible use of. No, the kind of magic that she desperately tried to reach for in her dreams, feeling it go through her fingers like sand - the kind of magic _she_ loved was magic she hadn't ever seen, not until that night on the beach.

An entire day spent beach-combing would have been a luxury to many, but for her, it was a welcome and well-loved distraction from the life she lived in the city. It was a day of homecoming, returning to her pack, the family that reared her from whelping to who she was today. It was a day of memory making, memories she wouldn’t have the chance to make if the ratrace of modern life caught up to her in the world of monsters and men that she called her own.

The sunset was fast on her heels, and she remembered something she had heard, that her half-brother, Apollo, would be crossing the west horizon in his chariot of flame and light, and that her half-sister, Diana, would race across the sky that would cloak itself in a cape of a thousand stars upon her brother’s goodbyes.

The twinkling lights revealed themselves, the air was cleaner here than anywhere nearby, and tonight, Jacynthe would be witnessing the majesty of the stars in loneliness. 

Even still, the stars were magical. Of course they were. They were distant and cold, but they were beautiful, and they brought so many so much joy. They made your wildest dreams and wishes come true. The stars were magical in a way Jacynthe only dreamed of being, and true to their honour in Jacynthe’s eyes, they made her wishes come true.

For that night, over the roiling tides that pushed and pulled at the shore while her sister’s chariot raced above them, the tides that undulated and ground the sand to silk that ran over Jacynthe’s legs, the stars shone their light bright enough to reveal a figure among the waves. A being so ethereal and unreal that Jacynthe’s eyes widened in shock, at their disbelief that _she_ should be the one to witness such a thing of beauty.

As if possessed, she got to her feet, and with dazed, stumbling steps, she made her way to the shoreline, disregarding suddenly the waves that crashed at her.

All those warnings ceased to matter. 

She was weightless. 

She was running at full speed into the ocean she had been taught to fear all her life. She could care less about the chill creeping over her soaked skin, only worsened by the jeans and thin shirt she was wearing. She was no longer afraid, because in front of her was magic, beautiful magic. Living, breathing proof of it. 

She was knee deep in the water, and the sand gave away under her feet. The waves could've dragged her under if they were strong enough, but the being in front of Jacynthe raised her arms, and the water stilled to a lakelike calm. The shimmering scales around her eyes and her cheeks reflected onto the water between them, though not nearly so much as her tail. Jacynthe was captivated. She couldn't bear to pull her eyes away from this viridian gaze, even as those inhuman eyes, with slits like Jacynthe's own when she shifted looked back at her.

A wordless gasp left Jacynthe, and the being tilted its head at her, as if curious. 

Awkwardly, she swam closer to Jacynthe, her tail of a thousand shimmering scales bending and flexing against the water that she had halted in their roughness. Slowly and reverently, Jacynthe drew closer as well, feeling her knees shake under her as this beautiful creature reached for her cheek. 

Jacynthe could feel a sharp nail running ever-so-gently over her skin, as if - as if this _mermaid_ was afraid to break her, as if she knew already that Jacynthe, for all her strength, was still delicate in some ways, and needed to be handled with care. Wide, startled eyes tracked over Jacynthe’s face, and the feeling of a thumb grazing over the scar on her lip brought Jacynthe’s attention back to the mermaid’s hands, with glowing scales that dotted them as well.

The mermaid muttered in a language that was both familiar and unfamiliar to Jacynthe, before shifting to the language she had heard Jacynthe speak in before.

_So this was Jupiter's daughter._

Rumors had abounded, but Pandora had been loath to believe them. But here before her, was living, breathing proof. 

“Your name…What is it?” 

Startled out of her wits, Jacynthe could barely speak for a moment as every word in her mind died right then. 

“My name? My name, it’s Jacynthe.” 

As if reassuring herself by that statement, Jacynthe mumbled it out like a shy toddler, feeling the urge to hide her face with her hair creeping up on her.

Satisfied, the mermaid smiled at her, and a pair of sharp fangs peeked at her through perfectly normal seeming lips.

“It’s my pleasure to finally meet you then, _Jacynthe._ My name’s Pandora.” 

Jacynthe almost wanted to laugh at that. To think, that such a shining and magical being should have a name more befitted to someone like her. Someone who could only ever wreak destruction, without ever having anything of beauty to show for themselves in this world.

_Pandora. The all-gifted one. The harbinger of mankind's downfall. The destroyer._

It was impossible for Jacynthe to see her as such. How could she? Pandora had the distinction of being both the loveliest creature Jacynthe had ever laid eyes on, while also being the first to show Jacynthe the magic she had chased after hopelessly all her life. 

That shimmering tail wound itself around Jacynthe for a moment, pulling her ever so slightly nearer without tripping her into the sea. Pandora tied something around her throat, and when Jacynthe tilted her chin downward, she could see a lone pearl on a string being knotted behind her neck.

“Don’t forget me, Jacynthe. Forget this night if you wish, forget the memories you have of the ocean too, but don’t forget me.” 

Pulling away, the mermaid left a kiss on Jacynthe’s cheek, before turning to dive into the great dark deep. Jacynthe’s eyes could only follow her for a few moments in her human form. 

Pulling herself back to reality, she ran out of the water in a daze. Drying her pants with her powers, she gently pulled the necklace over her head and shoved it into her hoodie’s pockets while the gust of wind she summoned blew itself into a breeze. 

_Did your wish come true, Jacynthe?_

Years later, Jacynthe will wake up disoriented. She won’t know her past, she will only know who her stepmother has made her into for her own purposes. Despite the confusion of this new life and the new people that surround her, Jacynthe will have a much-beloved and cherished pearl on the camp necklace she gets to have as a part of her new identity. 

When Chase shows her a picture of the girl her stepmother has abducted, the girl she has been forced to replace, Jacynthe will be face to face with someone she knows in her soul, if not in her memories. A fae creature that haunts her dreams and her mind endlessly.

She will remember then, she will remember the saltwater and the ocean air that filled every breath she took, she will remember the touch of a being any other would be afraid of - a touch so gentle it was barely there, she will remember the haze of starlight on shimmering scales, she will remember a viridian gaze that locked onto her fearlessly, she will remember the gentle press of lips to her cheek, and she will remember how she fell in love all those years ago.

It was magic, after all.

Jacynthe will never forget. 

**Author's Note:**

> For [parker_kingofbees](https://archiveofourown.org/users/parker_kingofbees/pseuds/parker_kingofbees), as a sort of early congratulatory gift for finishing their amazing story, [all of you a verb in perfect view](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26592805/chapters/64836388). 
> 
> Congratulations in advance, old sport! I've much enjoyed this journey with you, and I hope this little ditty is to your liking.


End file.
